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University of California astronomer to present public talk

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Alex Filippenko, a professor of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley, will discuss the mysterious "dark energy" that permeates all of space and increases the rate of cosmic expansion, during a talk March 16 at the University of Illinois.

Filippenko will present the 2009 talk in the U. of I. department of astronomy's Icko Iben Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture, "Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe," begins at 7:30 p.m. in Foellinger Auditorium, 709 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana. The talk is free and open to the public.

Observations of very distant exploding stars, called supernovae, show that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as a result of gravity as expected. Other, independent data also strongly support this amazing conclusion. Over the largest distances, the universe seems to be dominated by a repulsive dark energy, an idea Einstein suggested in 1917, but renounced in 1929 as his "biggest blunder."

Dark energy stretches the very fabric of space itself faster and faster with time. But the physical origin of dark energy is unknown, and is considered one of the most important unsolved problems in physics and astronomy.

As an observational astronomer, Filippenko makes frequent use of the two 10-meter Keck telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Filippenko's primary areas of research are supernovae, active galaxies, black holes, gamma-ray bursts and the expansion of the universe.

His research accomplishments, documented in more than 500 published papers, have been recognized by several major prizes, including the Richtmyer Memorial Award (2007). He is one of the world's most highly cited astronomers.

Filippenko was a member of both teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. The discovery was voted the top "Science Breakthrough of 1998" by Science magazine, and the teams received the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize for their discovery.

Filippenko has appeared in many TV documentaries, including "Stephen Hawking's Universe," "Runaway Universe," "Exploring Time," and numerous episodes of "The Universe" on The History Channel. He has produced three astronomy video courses with The Teaching Company, including a 96-lecture series in 2007, and in 2001 he co-wrote an award-winning textbook, now in its third edition.

He is the recipient of the 2004 Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. In 2006, he was selected as the Carnegie/CASE Doctoral and Research Universities National Professor of the Year.

Founded in 1997 and named in honor of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Astronomy Icko Iben Jr., the Iben lecture series brings a noted astronomer to campus each year to highlight some of the latest developments in astronomy. In addition to giving a public lecture, the invited speaker also will give a technical colloquium and meet informally with faculty members and students.